Staff Perspectives

Sarah Malcolm

My name is Sarah and I am the Archives Specialist here at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. My story at the Library begins back in 2007 when I was a summer intern in the archives. I didn’t know much about what an archive was nor had any clue about what an archivist did, but I loved history and wanted to try something a little bit different. That summer I fell in love with archives and with the Roosevelts. I went to graduate school and received my Masters in Library and Information Science in 2009 and was hired by the Library in 2010.

You may be wondering what exactly an archives specialist does, and the answer to that is many different things. As a member of the archival staff I provide reference service in our research room and answer questions we receive through e-mail. I copy documents that researchers request and retrieve materials from our storage rooms when requested. I am also able to provide outreach through digitizing documents and our social media efforts.

One of the greatest things I find about working in archive is being able to work with history every day. Every document and photograph in our collection has its own story to tell, something that makes it unique. Telling those stories and sharing our collections with people is important to me and social media provides an outlet for doing just that.

When I was in school, I never thought I would be spending time at work blogging, or on Facebook and Twitter. However, social media is an important part of what I do here at the Library. As part of our social media team I am responsible for finding content to write about and moderating our different sites. Working on social media projects has given me a different perspective on our collections and I’ve been able to learn so many great things. Thanks to our blog I’ve learned what FDR would have done after the presidency, that he flew a blimp in 1918 and that fabric swatches for gowns can be found in Eleanor Roosevelt’s papers.

I do want to say thank you to you our readers. Thank you for continuing to follow all of our social media sites and for the feedback that you give us. Being able to help bring the treasures of the Roosevelt Library to all of you through social media is a great joy for me. I also want to say thank you to all of my colleagues who play a part in our social media efforts. Without the content you all provide, we never would have gotten as far as we have.

So thank you all and stay tuned for more stories of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

3 thoughts on “Staff Perspectives

  1. I would prefer to have more information about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and less about everyone else.

  2. I believe President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is/was the greatest president of modern times (and, maybe, of all times).

    I would respectfully suggest that everyone working at the FDR Library read at least the following books about FDR and a few more about Eleanor Roosevelt:

    “FDR” by Jean Edward Smith

    “Before the Trumpet: Young Franklin Roosevelt 1882-1905” by Geoffrey C. Ward

    “A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt” by Geoffrey C. Ward

    “Franklin Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy 1932-1945” by Robert Dallek

    “The Juggler” by Warren Kimball

    “The Three Roosevelts: Patrician Leaders Who Transformed America” by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn

    “Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History” by Robert E. Sherwood

    “The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy” by William E. Leuchtenburg

    “Nothing to Fear: FDR in Photographs” by Hugh Gregory Gallagher

    “Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom” by Conrad Black

    “Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox” by James MacGregor Burns

    “Nothing to Fear: FDR’s Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America” by Adam Cohen

    “Five Days in Philadelphia; 1940,Wendell Willkie and the Political Convention That freed FDR to Win World War II” by Charles Peters

    “FDR: A Centenary Remembrance 1882-1945” by Joseph Alsop.

    “No Ordinary Time: Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II” by Doris Kearns Goodwin

    “Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court” by Jeff Shesol

    “Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship” by Jon Meacham

    “Eleanor & Franklin” by Joseph P. Lash

    “Gracious Lady: The Life of Sara Delano Roosevelt” by Rita Halle Kleeman

    “Young Franklin Roosevelt” by Rita Halle Kleeman

  3. Its nice to see someone born and raised locally, working to make the experience at the Presidential Library the best possible, and doing amazing work to hep bring to us the American public all information possible. I find it wonderful to read these staff prospectives! Franklin and Eleanor were humble people, at home in Hyde Park at Springwood and VallKill, it was always about the community around them that they cared about most, not about them personally or issues at large. I think, had they been asked to give approvals to these staff perspectives, they’d be delighted to learn about these fine people helping to carry on their legacy and true story. Well done Sarah, I look forward to hearing more!

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